Talked to a retired professor at a dig site and it shifted how I see shovel testing

I was helping out at a local survey near a creek bed in Ohio last Saturday when an old guy from the university wandered over and asked if I ever thought about what we miss between test pits. He said every hole is just a tiny window into a whole landscape that's gone for good, and that hit me different because I always just saw the artifacts we pull out. How do you guys stay motivated when you know you're only scratching the surface of what's really down there?

2 comments

2 Comments

ryan_gibson8412d ago

One time on a site in Pennsylvania, we dug thirty test pits in a row with nothing but broken brick, and the project director called it a day saying all that negative data tells us where people weren't. That stuck with me because it made the empty holes feel just as important as the ones with flakes or pottery. For motivation, I just try to remember that every shovel full of dirt is still a piece of the puzzle even if it doesn't have a point or a rim sherd in it.

graceblack12d ago

Man, that bit about the empty holes being just as important really hit me. It's so easy to get caught up in feeling like you're wasting time when you're just finding trash or nothing at all, but that director had it right. Every scoop tells you something, even if it's just that someone didn't bother with that spot.